IT scarred his childhood by taking the life of one of his closest friends and then struck him down so seriously that he barely survived himself.

Aberdeen-born Bob Grant has been fighting cancer since he was 14 and was so sick his parents were afraid to tell him he’d been given a year to live.

But he survived to become a local doctor, cancer researcher and medical charity adviser and has dedicated his life to helping patients and their relatives cope with the disease.

Bob, 67, even refused to let the amputation of his right leg 10 years ago stop him and the brave medic instead used the traumatic procedure to launch some of the most courageous charity efforts in Scotland.

Just weeks after losing his limb, which had been riddled with infection for decades following treatment for bone cancer in his teens, he came up with the idea of the Crutch Walk – a charity trek that saw him hobble for more than 100 miles across Scotland and raise almost £40,000 in three events over 10 years.

Bob and Joan (Image: George McLuskie)

He has just set off on his latest adventure in aid of Maggie’s cancer care charities and will be joined on his mammoth 109-mile walk up the Fife coast to Dundee by family and friends in memory of the loved ones he has lost to cancer. They include Bob’s school pal Jimmy Pearson, who died of leukaemia when he was 14.

He said: “There is a picture taken of Jimmy and me in the summer of 1960 when we were 14 or 15 and on a school walk to Lochnagar.

“Jimmy, who was a very fit and active boy, just couldn’t keep up and there was clearly something wrong with him. Then, a week later, he was diagnosed with leukaemia and he died in October. That was a shattering blow to me but within six weeks, I started to feel a pain in my right leg and I kept getting fobbed off by my GP until my parents demanded I get an emergency appointment and an X-ray showed a major problem.

“I remember spending a long time in hospital and I knew things were not good but, even though I was transferred to a special unit, at no time was I ever told of my diagnosis.

“Because of what had happened to my friend, my parents were very cautious to admit anything was seriously wrong with me.

“But I checked my notes later and know now that I was not expected to live more than a year. I was transferred to a cancer ward, but in 1960 people didn’t use the word cancer the way they do today.

“Everyone else in the ward had cancer, so I had a fair idea what was going on and it wasn’t a pleasant experience.”

All this inspired Bob to take up medicine. But he has always been struck by the need for the support that patients and their families couldn’t dream of 50 years ago.

“There were some examples of good treatment and nursing care and others not so good,” he said.

“I realised there were things I could do using my experience and that stimulated me to work so hard to get into medicine.

“I always remember how in hospital my mother came down and stayed with me and how ­difficult an experience it was for me and the family. I remember very well the distress of Jimmy’s parents through the lack of support available.

“And that’s why I am so committed to Maggie’s.”

Dr Bob’s first Crutch Walk was 10 years ago, shortly after he had his leg amputated.

The radiotherapy for his cancer had left him suffering decades of infection in the limb to the extent that 11 years ago he had to retire from his job.

After making the reluctant decision to amputate, Bob found that being free from the illness the sickly leg was causing not only allowed him to return to work part-time but also inspired the formerly keen hillwalker to do the charity work. He uses special crutches, made of titanium with better-than-normal grips, which are imported from the US, and has undertaken a fitness regime.

Bob said: “Initially after my treatment as a teenager, the leg was very fragile and didn’t grow as well, so I ended up with that leg three inches shorter, but got back walking and hillwalking.

“It was really only 15 years later that it began to swell and the radiotherapy effects started to show and I then started to suffer infections, with major surgery and courses of antibiotics. In 2002 I realised I had to have the amputation. It was just a couple of inches too high to be suitable for a prosthetic so I have crutches.

“I had always known it might happen but very quickly my health started to improve.

“I did the first Crutch Walk in August 2003, working with Macmillan Cancer Support. Last year, I was asked to take charge of the fundraising board for Maggie’s in Fife and thought I should really lead by example.”

While every event Bob has ever organised has been an emotional one, this year’s walk will be one of the most moving.

In addition to the memory of childhood pal Jimmy, Bob also recently lost his brother Ian to oesophageal cancer.

Ian Grant was killed by cancer (Image: George Mcluskie)

And daughter Lorna, 34, who had accompanied him on the previous events alongside sisters Julie, 39, and Fiona, 32, will also be missed this time after dying in a car crash three years ago. His daughters and wife Joan all hope to join him for some of the trek.

Bob said: “My three daughters have been hugely supportive, and Lorna took part in the first three. On each of the previous walks, my brother Ian and his wife took part, but he developed cancer in the gullet and died two years ago.

“At the time of diagnosis, it was too late to treat. He was immensely brave. He was a great guy and used the Maggie’s centre in Inverness as well.

“I’ll be thinking about Jimmy, Ian and Lorna on this walk. It will be quite a challenge without them and we will have them close to our hearts.

“It’s absolutely crucial to have family around me for the events I couldn’t do it without them,” he said.